Arcanists
Arcanists is a turn-based strategy game. Players take turns to utilise one of sixteen spells, chosen by the player beforehand, in order to defeat their opponents. Members have many more spells, clothing, and abilities than a free player. How to Play Basics When you first log-in to Arcanists, you must create a character. Playing the tutorial will help you to get the hang of the basics of the game. The number above your character's head is your life meter; if this hits 0, your character will die. Movement and Direction Z moves to the left while X moves to the right. The player may also use the comma "," key to move left and full stop "." key to move to the right. The player may prefer to use the later example since it is close to the enter and backspace keys. Enter or ctrl performs a long jump, and backspace or shift performs a high jump. The mouse is used to target and fire most weapons. Arrow keys are used to look around the battlefield, although this will cause the camera to stop automatically following you. N and C switch between minions, if you or your team have summoned them, and make the camera follow the creature under your command. Under certain circumstances, you may find yourself with the ability to fly. X and Z move your player right and left as before; Shift flies upwards and Enter flies downwards. If your Arcanist has mounted a minion, you have to control the minion, not the Arcanist. Sometimes, it can be difficult to jump from one location to the next if your character is facing the wrong way, as turning around may mean you fall from where you are standing. To change direction without moving, choose a weapon and target it in the direction you wish to face. Rating A player's rating is a measure of that player's overall skill. It starts at 1000, and increases or decreases when a player wins or loses a rated game. Since non-members cannot play rated games, their rating will always be 1000. If a player has been a FunOrb member and have participated in rated games their rating may be higher or lower than 1000, yet again the rating will not change if the player is no longer a FunOrb subscriber. Wands Wands are like the currency in Arcanists, and is used to buy more spells. Wands, like rating, can only be gained in rated games. Players get one wand for winning a game, and one more wand for each of the awards they achieved. Game Modes When a player creates a game, they may choose to host a team game or a free-for-all game. Team games can only be played in groups of four or six. When a team game starts, the colours of the top two or three shall be reddish colours, and the bottom two or three shall be bluish colours. If a player selects the team game option, but does not restrict the number of players to 4 or 6, the game may still be free-for-all. When a player creates a free-for-all game, they may choose to have a player amount of 2-6. While playing the game the colours of each player shall be different, showing no certain team colours. However, players may form unofficial alliances via private messages. Rated games and unrated games are the same, but unrated games do not affect rating and do not give wands. Both members and non-members may join an unrated game, but only members can join a rated game. Often when a non-member creates an unrated game, the player may kick members as the members normally defeat non-members in a fair fight. Awards At the end of a game, certain awards are given out to the players who did certain things during the match. Players may get wands even if they lost by getting awards. Spells At the bottom of your screen, there is the spell bar. This shows which spells you have available. Unavailable spells will be shaded out. Some spells can be used a limited number of times, or must be charged for a certain number of turns before they can be used; hovering the mouse over them will show how many charges left on a spell or how many turns before it can be used again, as well as the spell name and description. Spells have three levels: *Level 1 - These spells are available as soon as you purchase the respective spellbook, which costs 5 wands. They are found on the left hand side of the spellbook. Each book has 5 level 1 spells. *Level 2 - These spells cost 2 wands each, and you must also have the corresponding level 1 spell in your spell list in order to use it. The corresponding spell will be exactly on the opposite side of the book. Each book has 5 level 2 spells, each corresponding to their own level 1 spell. *Level 3 - These spells cost 3 wands each, and you must use 5 other spells from the same spellbook in order to use them. They are usually single-use and the only exceptions are Comet and Storm, which recharge after 5 turns. The Arcane spellbook has seven level 1 and five level 2 spells. Ball Spells Balls are projectiles which follow a parabolic trajectory. They are generally among the basic spells in a spellbook. Weapons are aimed and fired with the mouse; the weapon's velocity is controlled by how long the left mouse button is held. Balls explode on impact. Bomb Spells Bombs are identical to balls, except they bounce instead of exploding on impact. They explode after 5 seconds. Bombs can be very useful for enemies which are at the bottom of a pit, especially as many bombs have a cluster effect. They can be difficult to use against enemies which do not have obstacles close to them. Arrows Arrows are essentially homing ball attacks. These spells are excellent at damaging opponents at a distance and can be very accurate when used correctly. However, these attacks curve, which can make their direction difficult to predict without practice, and will be stopped by any obstacle. Players must click where they wish the arrow to go, and then fire the spell as with the ball spells. These spells are often fired at full power upwards, to allow the arrow to curve over the top of the landscape. Arrows follow a three-stage flight pattern. First, the spell flies straight in the direction you fired it toward. The distance it flies depends on the power you put behind it. Second, the arrow makes an arc, changing its course to fly directly at the target. Third, it goes straight towards the target. On most arrows, the diameter of the turn is the width of approximately twenty people. The Arcane Arrow, however, has a diameter of about 1 person, making it the only Arrow spell to be able to "turn on a dime". Bolts Bolts are similar to firearms: they are aimed in one direction and always fire at a set power with a number of shots, normally around 10. Aimed and fired with the mouse. Some care is required as shots may damage you if you stand too close. Enemies may be knocked away mid-shot with these spells, so it is advisable to back them against a piece of scenery. Arena Spells These spells affect the arena in some way. No aiming is required for them. Targeted Spells These spells are not directed from your character. Instead, they come from the terrain, for example, from the sky or the water. For this reason, they are very useful for players hiding in an enclosed space, as they do not require any line of sight from the player, although they may require a line of sight from somewhere else (for example, attacks from the sky can be blocked by scenery above the player). Many of these attacks are more powerful than basic attacks. Personal Spells These spells affect the player that casts them. They are often some kind of defense against attacks. Minions Minions are creatures that you summon to aid you in different ways. Control of these creatures is cycled by using the N or C keys. Minions are moved in the same manner as your Arcanist, although some have limited abilities (for example, many giants cannot jump very well). Minions will generally have a limited move-set consisting of 1-4 moves, which may use ammunition from your Arcanist's spells. Minions can be used offensively, to directly attack another player, or defensively, to block attacks. Some summons can be mounted by the player (by touching them) and can then be flown around. To fly, you must switch control to the minion; attempting to fly using the Arcanist will result in a dismount. Mounted minions will take damage in place of the Arcanist; however, Arcanists may be knocked off of a mount by a strong impact. Most summons have a recharge time of 5 turns. However, some stronger minons have one use only, and Brine Goblins can be summoned every turn. Towers Towers render the Arcanist immobile. They have a limited amount of health of their own, which is added to that of the player. This is the only way to make your Arcanist appear to reach HP of over 250. Towers are damaged by the Quake spell, and many spells from the Book of Stone have increased damage against towers. If a player wishes to leave their tower, the player must simply jump by pressing the Enter or Shift key. Prestige Hats Prestige hats are an optional series of icons players can earn after completing all spell books. Once a player has bought a prestige hat, they are given the standard arcane and fire spell books. They have to repurchase the lost spells with more wands. Each Prestige hat makes gaining wands more difficult. To make sure players don't accidentally buy prestige hats and lose all their spells, you must hold 'CTRL' and the click the buy button before you can actually buy the hat. The image to the left is the button that is shown to players when they are being offered the option to purchase a prestige hat. Spellbooks *Arcane Book *Book of Flame *Book of Stone *Book of Storm *Book of Frost *Book of Underdark *Book of Overlight *Book of Nature *Book of Seas Tactics Many different kinds of tactics exist for Arcanists. Some are very quick, others rely on slowly eroding your opponent's health over a long time. *'Mega Boulder' is capable of doing 175 damage in one turn when used skillfully, with a bit of luck. It is available earlier than many other highly-damaging spells. It may be helpful to combine it with Mud Ball to keep your opponent where he is as the explosions happen nearby. *'Chain Lightning' can also work as an equivalent to Mega Boulder, and it is best used with Mud Ball. *Climbing on your opponent's head can often be used to open up a number of tactics, and prevent them from moving. Minions can also be used for this. *'Flight' can be used very effectively if you are lucky enough to get the first turn. Fly above your opponent when you can use Ice Shards to deal a quick 75 damage, or Mud Ball to trap them. Once trapped, a number of tactics can be used; Aura of Decay can force opponents to teleport and Chain Lightning can sometimes deal huge amounts of damage. *'Water Ball' explodes on impact, but the water droplets keep going. You can cast Ice Shield, then fire the water ball at the shield; the ball will scatter, having a high chance to hit your opponent. However, it leave you open to a bomb or arrow spell, as the spell leaves an opening in the shield. Achievements Trivia *Arcanists was voted players' favourite FunOrb game in a RuneScape Poll. *Once a player has played 501 games the ratings menu will no longer accurately count; it will instead say 500+ *Many things have been changed: **In the early days of Arcanists, a common tactic was to build a castle directly on top of your opponent's head. **Death Bombs used to deal Death damage. **Arcanists with Shining Power used to not lose their ability to fly when hit. **Soul Jars used to have unlimited use. Due to many rants on the forum, this has been reduced to a maximum of only five uses. **When familiars were introduced, napalm used to be able to deal 210 damage with a fully charged familiar. 42 napalms were fired until 16 July 2008, after which the number was reduced to 18. **Headbombing (where a player could fire a bomb directly downward into another Arcanist) was removed on 16 July 2008. Bombs are now fired from the Arcanist, instead of a point just in front of it. **It was possible to zombify an Arcanist under certain circumstances, although as this was a bug and not an intended feature, control was limited. Category:Multi-player Games Category:Original Games Category:Strategy Games Category:Arcanists